One Dog Night (18 page)

I’m going on three cable news shows tonight, and all were eager to have me. It’s a sign that the 24/7 cable news networks have enough real programming to fill up maybe 14/4, if that.

We timed my proposed appearances to come on the night before opening statements. I’m doing them all from a single studio on West Forty-eighth Street in Manhattan, and they’re being beamed by satellite to the various networks. It’s not exactly a long beaming, since they’re all located right here in New York, but it certainly cuts down on cab fare.

I’m not going on alone; I’m doing so with Alexander Downey, Willie Miller’s publisher. When I called and told him what I wanted him to do, he jumped at the opportunity.

The first show is the most serious. Douglas Burns has just gotten his own legal show on CNN, and unlike some of his colleagues, he examines issues from an intelligent, legally savvy point of view.

Burns is a former federal prosecutor, turned defense attorney, turned TV personality. He’s done it all, and knows what he’s talking about, so it’s a little dangerous for me to go on his show. But if I can get by him, the rest will be easy.

Burns starts off the segment by summing up the issues in the case, utilizing all the evidence that has made its way into the public domain. It’s a thorough, compelling presentation, and if I could get him to slant it in our direction, I could use it as my opening statement.

But I’m not here to discuss the evidence, or our strategy at trial. For one thing, the evidence is stacked against us, and we haven’t formulated a coherent defense, at least not for our case in chief.

I’m here to plant some things in the minds of the people that shouldn’t be watching, the seven men, five women, and six alternates who are on our jury. But more importantly, I’m here to scare a bunch of people who aren’t.

I’m easily able to deflect questions about the evidence and our strategy by claiming that we can’t reveal too much, lest the other side gain an advantage. Burns understands that and backs off, and opens the door for me to discuss what I’m interested in.

I decide to be direct, and say, “To be honest, Doug, my hope is to use your show to send a message.”

He smiles, spreads out his arms, and says, “That’s what we’re here for.” He probably senses that this has the potential to be a big story, and besides, we’re live on television. He’s not going to throw me out; he’s got air time to fill.

“There’s a man named Ray Camby; he’s a two-time ex-con who has been available for hire. From the moment I took on the Galloway case, he started following me.”

“Why was he doing that?”

“Because there are people who are trying to stop this trial, because they are afraid of what will come out. They are the people who killed Danny Butler.” The audience will know who Butler is, because he was in Burns’s setup piece.

“Do you know who these people are?” Burns asks.

“Not yet. But we’re getting close.”

“Is Ray Camby still following you?” He smiles, peers into the lights, shielding his eyes, and says, “Ray, are you out there?”

“You’ll have to talk louder than that,” I say. “Ray Camby was murdered last week, to prevent my investigators from questioning him. But we did manage to get a great deal of valuable information, and we’ve traced back Camby’s connections.”

“Who are those connections?”

“They are people in very prominent positions, in business and in government.”

“You have names?”

I smile. “I do, but I’m not going to reveal them here, at least not tonight. My investigators are going to be approaching these people, starting tomorrow. They will be given an opportunity to cooperate, to discuss with us in confidence what they know about this situation. If they refuse, their names will be made public, and I will invite the working press to start digging.”

“You’re making a very serious threat,” Burns points out.

“I understand that. But twenty-six people died in that fire, and two more have been killed in recent weeks. In addition, an innocent man faces the possibility of life in prison. I think it’s time we played some hardball, and I’m not only willing to make these threats, but I’m very prepared to back them up. And that’s where Mr. Downey comes in.”

Burns then takes the cue and starts asking Downey how he is involved in this process. Downey announces that his company has accepted my proposal to publish a book I will be writing, mainly about the Galloway case, but also about others in my career.

“It will be after the conclusion of the case,” Downey says, “so there will be no reason to hold anything back. Andy has promised to name names, most notably of those who have not cooperated with the defense.”

Downey fends off Burns’s questions about details, mainly because he doesn’t have any. He doesn’t even have a contract with me, not even an agreement that I will write the book. He certainly hopes I will, but the publicity this will generate for his company is payment enough for the moment.

We go through the drill twice more, on two other shows, and head home. The trial starts tomorrow, so I’ve got quite a bit of work ahead of me tonight.

I’m tired, but pleased with how it went. Hopefully I’ve made some people very nervous. I know I am.

“I thought I had seen it all,” is how Dylan begins his opening statement. “I’ve been in this job a long time, and I thought I’d seen it all.” He shakes his head, sadly, at the realization that in fact he hadn’t seen it all.

“It’s my job to deal with terrible things, and I’ve seen a lot of them. Every time someone gets robbed, or embezzled, or assaulted, or murdered, it comes through my office. And I have to admit my colleagues and myself get a little hardened to it; I suppose that’s human nature.

“But every once in a while we’re presented with something so terrible and so tragic that it stuns us all, and makes us recoil in horror. But someone in my job doesn’t get to make it go away by turning off the TV, or not buying the newspaper. I need to face it head-on, as distasteful as it might be.

“And now, today, so do you. You are going to see things during the course of this trial that I wish you didn’t have to see. You are going to hear things I wish you didn’t have to hear.

“But it all comes with my job, and now it comes with yours. Because you and I need to do whatever we can to make sure that something as horrible as this does not happen again.

“Twenty-six people died a horrible death one night six years ago. Most of them were completely innocent, a few weren’t. But none of them deserved the fate that they got. None of them deserved to suffer as they suffered … no one does.

“It took six years to identify the perpetrator of this horrible crime. There was certainly no rush to judgment here. Finally, when it looked as if it might go unsolved, someone came along and provided a key piece of information. After that, through diligent and dedicated investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, all the pieces fell into place.

“Noah Galloway committed this crime. This is not the time for me to convince you of that fact; the evidence will do that. You will be left without a reasonable doubt, which is what our system properly demands.

“You will see Noah Galloway for what he is, and what he has done, and you will do your job. As unpleasant as all of this will be, I have no doubt you will do your job.

“So I thank you for your service.”

Dylan has done an effective job of bringing the jurors on to his team, the team that is dedicated to protecting society from the horribly evil people on my team. It no doubt fits the narrative they came in with, so I’m sure it landed on receptive ears.

As I stand I glance at Noah, who is staring straight ahead and betraying no emotion, as I have counseled him to do. But I can’t help wondering what’s going through his mind. Before I met him, he was resigned to his fate, and comfortable with it. He felt he deserved whatever the system decreed, and that would be that.

But he’s a smart guy, and though he isn’t quite willing to admit it, he must be coming to believe in at least the possibility of his own innocence. That automatically gives him something major at stake, and also gives him a reason to be frightened, and bitter, and angry, and very, very anxious.

He’s not showing it, and that’s good, but he’s got to be feeling it.

I pat him on the shoulder, as much for the jury’s sake as his own, and stand. “I’ve been in my job a lot of years as well,” I say, “but I’ve already had a relatively new experience this time. Very often I can go an entire trial without agreeing with anything the prosecutor says, but this time we are on the same page on a major issue.

“What happened that night six years ago is horrible … no doubt about it. And I would like the person who did it to go away for the rest of his life, and I would be fine if that life wasn’t a long one.

“But your job is not to punish the person that the prosecutor says is guilty. You are not punishers, you are finders of fact. It is your job to decide whether Noah Galloway is guilty, not to protect society. Society is not protected by an innocent man going to prison; it suffers for it.

“Noah Galloway had a disease; it’s called drug addiction. It is a horrible disease, and one that is terribly difficult to overcome. But he’s done just that; he’s turned his life around and become a model citizen. He’s been recognized for his accomplishments and his good works by many, many people, a group that happens to include the President of the United States.

“But his achievements in the last six years don’t make him innocent; nor do his troubles before that make him guilty. When you come to know him then and now, when you know who Noah Galloway is and what makes him tick, then you will know he is incapable of this kind of act.

“The evidence is convenient, rather than compelling. It suddenly appeared as if by magic, and it came in torrents. The case was handed to the prosecutor on a silver platter, and he ran with it. I don’t know about you, but when I’m handed something on a silver platter for no reason at all, I check to see if it’s real silver.

“Well, you will soon see that none of this is real, and that Noah Galloway is a victim. So, like Mr. Campbell, I ask you to do your job, based solely on the facts. Then maybe the police and prosecutors can focus on finding the real fiend, who is out there laughing at us.

“Thank you.”

Noah whispers a thank-you to me when I sit down, and even Hike nods that he feels it went well. A positive nod from Hike is the equivalent of a ticker-tape parade from a normal person, so I’m feeling good about things.

That feeling is wiped away by one sentence spoken to Dylan, by De Luca. “Call your first witness.”

I guess I was hoping the judge would forget about the witness part, and go right to the verdict.

It was one of the more unpleasant phone calls in Loney’s recent memory.

Carmine Ricci had called at three
A.M.
and he was not happy. The hour of the call was not a surprise; Carmine was on Vegas time, so it was only midnight, and he never slept anyway. He also was not particularly concerned about waking Loney; in fact, based on the tone of his voice, he would have been happy to kill Loney.

“You been watching television?” Carmine asked, instead of “hello.”

“Now?” Loney asked. “I’ve been sleeping for … what time is it?” He looked at his watch, and then continued, “Three hours.”

“The lawyer was on television tonight.”

“What lawyer? Carpenter?” Loney asked. “What did he say?”

“Find out yourself, and then call me to explain. If he calls me before you do, you’ve got yourself a problem.”

“Okay … just tell me … what show was he on?”

“How the hell do I know? You think I watch that shit? I heard it was one of those lawyer shows.”

Click.

Loney set about trying to find out what the hell Carmine was talking about, a task which proved easier than he expected. The cable news and talk shows are repeated frequently in the early-morning hours, and he was able to catch the appearance on the Doug Burns show at four
A.M.

It confirmed his worst fears; Carpenter had traced the calls that Camby made, which would not have been that difficult. But then he had somehow managed to delve into Loney’s phone records, and find out who he had called.

This would have been a disaster waiting to happen, if it hadn’t already happened. He would have to call everyone on the list, and explain what had taken place. He would not mention Camby’s death, though they would learn about it from Carpenter’s TV appearances.

Actually, the circumstances of Camby’s death might help him convince them not to talk to Carpenter. They would not want to share Camby’s fate, and even though public disclosure by Carpenter could prove somewhat embarrassing, a bullet in the head would be even more problematic.

His bosses would be upset, though that would quickly turn to anger. Loney knew that they saw him as a necessary evil, a conduit to use to accomplish their goals. Conduits are supposed to handle problems, not cause them, and his bosses were going to see this as a very big problem.

But the worst part was Carmine, because at the end of the day, Carmine was the only player here who was of any real importance. So if Carmine was pissed off, nothing else mattered. And Carmine was pissed off.

Loney called him back, but didn’t bother to apologize. Carmine never wanted to hear apologies; he considered them unnecessary. He already knew that someone who displeased him would by definition be sorry that they had done so, since they would want to stay alive.

All Carmine was interested in was that the situation be rectified, and Loney promised that the process would begin, effective immediately. He didn’t say how he would do that, since another thing Carmine was not interested in was details. He was a results-oriented guy.

In the morning, Loney set out to make calls to everyone that could be on Carpenter’s list. He started with Fowler, asking him if he was aware of what Carpenter had said on television.

“I saw it,” Fowler said. “I’m still trying to figure out how you could have let that happen.”

“It was a mistake,” Loney admitted. “I’m dealing with it.”

“You’d better. Your boss is as unhappy about it as we are.”